X88 PRO X3, Choose DTB and Install to EMMC

Help & Support Installation & Booting
1

I have a X88 PRO X3 TV BOX. S905X3/4GB/128GB spec.

I select the sm1_s905x3_4g_1gbit.dtb file and rename to dtb.img and put in root folder.
And when I boot, it stuck on the black screen.
As a result of booting into various DTB files, the only odroid_c4 DTB can boot. But there are three problems.

First, only 2gb of memory is recognized, even though it is a 4gb model.

Second, Bluetooth are not working. (not important to me)

Third, if I reboot after installing corelec on EMMC through the ceemmc -x command, I cannot see boot logo and stuck on the black screen.
I know that even if CoreELEC is installed in EMMC, the boot logo will not disappear. But in my device, I cannot see boot logo. maybe removed recovery.

Perhaps, I think both DTB’s are not suitable for my device.

I know that it is difficult to support individual devices because you don’t have all the set-top box devices. If you support me, I will give you all the information about my device.

Thank you.

2

Did you try sm1_s905x3_4g? And are you sure your device is 4gb and not 2gb?

You can’t use the C4 dtb and no further support will be offered if you continue to use it, that is for a different device.

3

Hi. Thank you so much for your response.

The sm1_s905x3_4g DTB file does not boot properly. I didn’t check the ram of my device exactly, but what I bought is the 4G/128G model. I checked that 128 gigabytes is storage on Android, but I didn’t check memory. Maybe this product doesn’t sell 2/128 model, so 4/128 is right.

In addition, the sm1_s905x3_2g_1gbit DTB file was properly booted from the SD card. And I installed it on EMMC through ceemmc -vx, but it still stopped on the black screen.

An error message was printed during installation with the ceemmc -vx command, and I don’t know if this is causing a problem.

Free space of ‘partition CE_FLASH’: 512MB
Warning: Could not find ‘dto’ part!
Free space of ‘partition CE_STORAGE’: 118664MB

4

I believe that warning can be ignored.

@Portisch or @vpeter should be able to advise further for ceemmc issues.

5

No, this warning about dto partition means nothing.

And whole output should be copied next time. Or maybe you can try removing CE from eMMC and install again. And post whole output from the program.

6

Thank you for your response.
How can I remove the ce from emmc?
Currently, my device cannot be recovered with stock Android. There is a problem with the USB burning tool that can not Flash aoll of rom files. So as of now, only corelec can be used on my sd card in my device.

7

When you start ceemmc tool you get an option to remove coreelec installation.

8

I can’t use the uninstall option.
ce installed in emmc, but it seems that the emmc tool does not recognize it.

There is NO official support by Team CoreELEC
if you continue to run this tool!
Continue? [y]: y

eMMC size: 0x001d1ec00000 [128GB]

Original partition table:
[mmcblk0p01] bootloader offset 0x000000000000, size 0x000000400000 [4 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p02] reserved offset 0x000002400000, size 0x000004000000 [64 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p03] cache offset 0x000006c00000, size 0x000046000000 [1120 MB], cache
[mmcblk0p04] env offset 0x00004d400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p05] logo offset 0x00004e400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p06] recovery offset 0x00004f400000, size 0x000001800000 [24 MB], code
[mmcblk0p07] misc offset 0x000051400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p08] dtbo offset 0x000052400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p09] cri_data offset 0x000053400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], cache
[mmcblk0p10] param offset 0x000054400000, size 0x000001000000 [16 MB], cache
[mmcblk0p11] boot offset 0x000055c00000, size 0x000001000000 [16 MB], code
[mmcblk0p12] rsv offset 0x000057400000, size 0x000001000000 [16 MB], code
[mmcblk0p13] metadata offset 0x000058c00000, size 0x000001000000 [16 MB], code
[mmcblk0p14] vbmeta offset 0x00005a400000, size 0x000000200000 [2 MB], code
[mmcblk0p15] tee offset 0x00005ae00000, size 0x000002000000 [32 MB], code
[mmcblk0p16] vendor offset 0x00005d600000, size 0x000014000000 [320 MB], code
[mmcblk0p17] odm offset 0x000071e00000, size 0x000008000000 [128 MB], code
[mmcblk0p18] system offset 0x00007a600000, size 0x000080000000 [2048 MB], code
[mmcblk0p19] product offset 0x0000fae00000, size 0x000008000000 [128 MB], code
[mmcblk0p20] data offset 0x000103600000, size 0x001c1b600000 [115126 MB], data

No CoreELEC installation found on eMMC

Install in dual boot mode, CoreELEC and Android on eMMC
Use CoreELEC data from
[1] current used SD or USB device
[2] existing backup on current used SD or USB device

Install in single boot mode, only CoreELEC on eMMC
Use CoreELEC data from
[3] current used SD or USB device
[4] existing backup on current used SD or USB device

Please choose one option? [1/2/3/4]:

9

You don’t have installed CE on eMMC and tool tell you that (No CoreELEC installation found on eMMC). Also partition table was not modified.

10

I think you’re better off buying a micro sd card and installing coreelec to that. It’s just as fast and has the same options, and you still have android installed. The memory not recognized, probably a dtb thing. You could try contact @anon88919003 he can fix things like that, but it will cost some of your time too to test things.

11

This is the DTS for that box, maybe helpful for adding DTB support:
X88_PRO_X3.dts (84,3 KB)
This Vontar X88 Pro x3 box looks really competitive, only 42€ for 4GB + 128GB + Dual Wifi + BT4.1 + 1000M.
Quality may be a different story…

[Edit] re-upped the attachment, as the shown filename was confusing

12

That is not a dtb, it is a dts and I’m not sure why you are trying to provide this? the dtb’s that we already have available in our images should work just fine.

13

I know it’s DTS format, as written. It’s the crappy drag&drop upload that changes the filename (local filename is X88_PRO_X3_dtb.dts).
I extracted it from box image, to support you for crosscheck if there is some different pinout on this box. But if not welcome, nevermind…

14

Can your x88pro x3 boot CE with S905x3_4g_1gbit.dtb?

15

DTB should be supplied not DTS as they often use multidtb and it needs splitting to get the correct DT.

Nevertheless from experience it is very rare that the pinout is changed in these Generic boxes.

16

I don’t have this box right now, but was considering to buy it, so I’m interested to see if it can run CE.
Attached the DTB from the Android image, give it a try:
X88_PRO_X3.dtb (74,8 KB)

17

Thank you so much for your interest in my issue I tried using the dtb file you attached, but it was not bootable.

18

@adam,
I will attach the entire log that ran the ceemmc through S905X3_2g_1gbit.dtb. I’d appreciate it if you could check if there’s a problem.

CoreELEC (official): 9.2.2 (Amlogic-ng.arm)
CoreELEC:~ # ceemmc -vx

Starting CoreELEC eMMC installation tool...

System is not supported: sm1_s905x3_2g_1gbit!

There is NO official support by Team CoreELEC
if you continue to run this tool!
Continue? [y]: y

eMMC size: 0x001d1ec00000 [128GB]

Original partition table:
[mmcblk0p01]           bootloader  offset 0x000000000000, size 0x000000400000 [4 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p02]             reserved  offset 0x000002400000, size 0x000004000000 [64 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p03]                cache  offset 0x000006c00000, size 0x000046000000 [1120 MB], cache
[mmcblk0p04]                  env  offset 0x00004d400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p05]                 logo  offset 0x00004e400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p06]             recovery  offset 0x00004f400000, size 0x000001800000 [24 MB], code
[mmcblk0p07]                 misc  offset 0x000051400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p08]                 dtbo  offset 0x000052400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p09]             cri_data  offset 0x000053400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], cache
[mmcblk0p10]                param  offset 0x000054400000, size 0x000001000000 [16 MB], cache
[mmcblk0p11]                 boot  offset 0x000055c00000, size 0x000001000000 [16 MB], code
[mmcblk0p12]                  rsv  offset 0x000057400000, size 0x000001000000 [16 MB], code
[mmcblk0p13]             metadata  offset 0x000058c00000, size 0x000001000000 [16 MB], code
[mmcblk0p14]               vbmeta  offset 0x00005a400000, size 0x000000200000 [2 MB], code
[mmcblk0p15]                  tee  offset 0x00005ae00000, size 0x000002000000 [32 MB], code
[mmcblk0p16]               vendor  offset 0x00005d600000, size 0x000014000000 [320 MB], code
[mmcblk0p17]                  odm  offset 0x000071e00000, size 0x000008000000 [128 MB], code
[mmcblk0p18]               system  offset 0x00007a600000, size 0x000080000000 [2048 MB], code
[mmcblk0p19]              product  offset 0x0000fae00000, size 0x000008000000 [128 MB], code
[mmcblk0p20]                 data  offset 0x000103600000, size 0x001c1b600000 [115126 MB], data

No CoreELEC installation found on eMMC

Install in dual boot mode, CoreELEC and Android on eMMC
  Use CoreELEC data from
    [1] current used SD or USB device
    [2] existing backup on current used SD or USB device

Install in single boot mode, only CoreELEC on eMMC
  Use CoreELEC data from
    [3] current used SD or USB device
    [4] existing backup on current used SD or USB device

Please choose one option? [1/2/3/4]: 3

Free space of 'partition CE_FLASH': 512MB
Warning: Could not find 'dto' partition!
Free space of 'partition CE_STORAGE': 118664MB

New partition table:
[mmcblk0p01]           bootloader  offset 0x000000000000, size 0x000000400000 [4 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p02]                  env  offset 0x000000400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p03]                 misc  offset 0x000000c00000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p04]                 logo  offset 0x000001400000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p05]                 dtbo  offset 0x000001c00000, size 0x000000800000 [8 MB], code
[mmcblk0p06]             reserved  offset 0x000002400000, size 0x000004000000 [64 MB], unkn
[mmcblk0p07]             CE_FLASH  offset 0x000006400000, size 0x000020000000 [512 MB], data
[mmcblk0p08]           CE_STORAGE  offset 0x000026400000, size 0x001cf8800000 [118664 MB], data

Used space of '/flash': 212MB
Used space of '/storage': 3MB

There is enough free space on eMMC for installation!

Install CoreELEC on eMMC.
Continue? [y]: y

Moved 'env' from offset 0x00004d400000, size 0x000000800000 to offset 0x000000400000
Moved 'misc' from offset 0x000051400000, size 0x000000800000 to offset 0x000000c00000
Moved 'logo' from offset 0x00004e400000, size 0x000000800000 to offset 0x000001400000
Moved 'dtbo' from offset 0x000052400000, size 0x000000800000 to offset 0x000001c00000

Starting to format the new 'CE_STORAGE' partition...
mke2fs 1.45.3 (14-Jul-2019)
Discarding device blocks: done
Creating filesystem with 30377984 4k blocks and 7602176 inodes
Filesystem UUID: ea494a38-7690-4929-9fc8-f9f4d5df473e
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
        4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (131072 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done


Starting to format the new 'CE_FLASH' partition...
mkfs.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
Stopping Kodi before start of copy process!

Starting copying of data to the eMMC!
Please do NOT interrupt this progress till it's finished!

Copy all data from '/flash' to '/media/CE_FLASH'
        212.83M 100%   36.42MB/s    0:00:05 (xfr#33, to-chk=0/36)

Syncthing, please wait...
Copy all data from '/storage' to '/media/CE_STORAGE/coreelec_storage'
          3.63M  99%    9.17MB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#328, to-chk=0/651)

Syncthing, please wait...
Start Kodi again to have a user interface!

Success!


You can now power off the device, remove the used boot media (SD or USB) and
power on again to boot the device from eMMC!
19

hongtonik, installation went fine. But why it doesn’t boot is different story and have no idea. Using log from UART would tell more.

20

Just got this box today and tried all the generic s905x3 DTB from image and the ones uploaded but no luck booting to CE (booting from USB). Good box at first glance but too bad it’s unusable for CE (at this point)